Gone But Not Forgotten
by V.Evergreen
Summary: Somtimes they forget that Rory was a centurian for two millennia. Sometimes Rory wishes he could forget too.


Sometimes they forgot that Rory was a soldier.

He had never wanted to be. Even in his two thousand years as a centurion he made sure that he never killed unless he had too and those who he did hurt he tried to patch up the best he could afterwards.

He was no doctor but he was a nurse.

~o~o~o~

In his life of running after aliens and following Amy and questioning the Doctor because someone had to, he found some sort of reprieve from the memories.

They always came back and they were always lurking in the depths of his mind but for those brief moments he lived purely in the present and it was more wonderful than he could say.

As far as he could figure the human brain was nowhere near equipped enough to deal with two thousand years worth of memories and knowledge. It simply couldn't do it. It was only because Rory managed to repress it all to the back his head that he could function at all.

The Doctor had said something about the timelines resetting and the universe changing but Rory had tuned out as he usually did when the Doctor started babbling about something he didn't have a chance in hell of understanding.

What it really boiled down to was that he had two thousand years worth of memories and not enough places to put them. He became good at blocking them out, so good that sometimes he could pretend they weren't there. They were of course; they always were.

It worked for the most part, he could go from day to day completely normally as if there was nothing wrong but sometimes it would blindside him and leave his mind reeling. There was no option but to just work through it. He only need to look at Amy to remember why it was worth it

~o~o~o~

Sometimes silly things would set him off. The three of them visited medieval England one day and within ten minutes of the Doctor opening his mouth they ended up at sword point. Rory was a little hazy on the details after that but the next thing he knew he had disarmed one man to gain a sword and then proceeded to disarm the others.

Amy laughed and told him she was impressed but the Doctor gave him a long searching look and a sympathetic smile.

Spending near two thousand years as a Roman centurion means you pick up a few things. Sword play was just one of them.

~o~o~o~

It's a shock to him when he realises that technically he's older than the Doctor. If you go by how many years they've been conscious Rory is over double the alien's age. The realisation makes him go a little weak at the knees and he sits down on the nearest chair. He'd never understood what the Doctor meant before when he made off the cuff comments about being too old, but when he opened his mind to all the repressed memories they weight of them almost crushes him. The volume almost drowns him.

By now Amy has learnt when to recognise that he's not all there and he can hear her call for the Doctor though she sounds like she's miles away. He can feel her stroking his arm speaking soft reassurances but even they can't stem the relentless flow of knowledge and memories through his mind.

It's not until the Doctor comes and kneels in front of him that he can notice anything properly. He can feel the time lord's hands on the side of his face and then suddenly he can feel the Doctor in his _mind_. Normally that would be a cause for alarm except he can feel the other man helping him control the memories, to lock them away again.

When he can finally open his eyes he sees two faces looking back at him etched with concern.

Knowledge is power and the human brain was not meant to cope with such might.

~o~o~o~

Eventually he gets better at controlling the episodes but he's noticed something different. When the Doctor thinks he isn't looking at him the alien man will stare at Rory. At first he can't recognise what it is in his gaze but he figures it out in the end. _Guilt._

The Doctor blames himself for turning Rory into a Roman and Rory can't bring himself to disagree.

~o~o~o~

Years after their adventures on the TARDIS Rory is looking in the mirror when he sees the unexpected. A grey hair. He can't help the smile the breaks out on his face. Two thousand years of never changing and he is finally, _finally _ageing.

And as he looks at Amy later that day he can't think of anyone he'd rather age with.

….

A/N- I hope you like it! Reviews and opinions would be lovely and thank you for reading!

VE


End file.
